


FFXIV: A Raider Reborn

by hakumei_hogosha



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-04-03 11:04:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 9,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4098658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hakumei_hogosha/pseuds/hakumei_hogosha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A compilations of tales based on a group of raiders and their shenanigans.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> **Author's Note:** This was the result of being egged into writing a fanfic as I kept telling my friends how I was dying to know when the next update was for various fanfics I kept up with. This is also a means of me remembering the funny tales I have come by when playing my current MMO, FFXIV.
> 
> Nonetheless, I hope this compilation of tales brings some chuckles and thanks ahead of time for your time. I hope you enjoy.

Things had looked grim the past few weeks as all previous assaults against Nael proved fruitless. Again and again, her comrades in battle and herself would fall to Nael's bombardment of meteors. It wasn't a surprise that they had called it quits after weeks of nothing but failure. The monk was effectively out of "work."

The monk was debating her options. She could either join a new free company and hope for better luck, or abandon the endeavor altogether. Neither option did not yield much hope; if anything, both options added more uncertainty of what to be done. It was then that a letter arrived.

> **"Would you like to tryout and raid Final Coil with my team?"**

The monk stepped back in shock and then read again. She immediately responded with yes. It was a dream come true. Well, it was a chance for a dream come true and it was worth the shot. The tryout was to be the following day before midnight and start at one of the raid member's house.

* * *

Perhaps it was nervousness. Perhaps it was excitement. The monk didn't know. All she knew, Lady Luck had finally turned her way and given her a chance. She had to give her best shot but... it didn't seem she was.

 _"It must be the nervousness,"_ she mumbled under her breath.

Her potential teammates wanted to see what she could do and thus, she was punching away at a striking dummy. To her misfortune however, her punches didn't ring their usual vigor and sounded dull and weak. Her spirit was set for this but why? Why wasn't her assault ringing true to her spirit?

Her heart sank as her "comrades" remained quiet and neutral. After another round on the dummy, the raid leader -- the one who had contacted her -- made a motion to see Nael. In order to enter the Final Coil of Bahamut, they had to get her past Nael, who was Bahamut's champion.

Maybe Lady Luck didn't turn her way, maybe it was Miss Fortune, misfortune in the form of the ultimate tease. Nael was not the best fight for a monk; let alone, she had not seen everything Nael could do. However the monk will admit this made a sound assessment for a tryout. They could determine how she would handle the pressure of new mechanics in addition to difficulty for her given role. It didn't matter. There's no point being nervous or stressing out. She needs to focus.

 _"If I made it on the team, great. If I didn't, oh well; at least I'll finally Nael her coffin,"_ She told herself as the fight was about to start.

* * *

They were victorious. Nael had fallen... only at the casualty of the monk. She had died after placing the dive marker; she had lingered a second or two too long. She felt bad but the fact she stayed alive until almost the end for her first time... she could take that.

After finally leaving the dreaded place, the monk went to report to Urianger and braced herself for the results of her tryout.

To her surprise, the raid leader said, "Onto T10."

The tryout continued?

 


	2. The Gullible Monk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The monk has made it through the tryout and was eagerly trying to prove herself for her new team. The monk was very familiar of what led to ousting someone from a team and she didn't want a repeat. She swore to herself, she would give it her best shot and did so, headlong... which may have been her first mistake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Author's Note:** I'm on a roll!
> 
> **Monk [MNK]:** One of the three melee damage classes in FFXIV: AAR and utilizes their fists to deal damage. Overtime, it has been stated to have the highest raw potential amount of damage per second of all classes. However, the class is also refuted as the hardest damage dealing class to master due to all of its attacks requiring positionals and to renew its damage-increasing buff every 12 seconds. The monk class is also favored in raid because of its ability called "Dragon Kick," which reduces the intelligence of its target by 10% and in turn reduces any magic-based attacks done by the target.

**Chapter Two: The Gullible Monk**

Immediately at the start of T10, she literally had gotten targeted for every mechanic the devious cat boss Imdugud could toss at her.

“Again another fight requiring careful timing for my greased lightning,” she cursed under her breath as she was stunned and forced to watch the cat charge at her.

* * *

It took another day in T10 for the monk to get her T10 clear; on her first day, they had only gotten to the start of what seemed the last phase of the encounter. She considered it a small achievement. She had not gotten to review any recon information and entered the encounter, blind.

However other things made her mood sour. Her class was known for having the highest, raw potential damage per second (DPS) and she was the lowest of the team’s damage dealers. She introspected, _“The raid leader had told me this was their third victory against Imdugud. This is also my first time through the encounter… furthermore…”_

The monk looked over to her comrades as they were idling around while the scholar was making food. Her gaze fell upon each of her comrade’s weapons. They were sparkling and she could easily identify where each one had originated. Everyone but the dragoon wielded the weapons of lore and they shone with the greatest clarity; their weapons were forged by the greatest blacksmith rumored in the land. However even the dragoon was not to be taken lightly. He may not have wielded a weapon of legend but he carried the very weapon Nael had used from the turn they had gotten through. In summary, her entire team was simply better geared than her; it was only natural that she was lagging behind; the monk needed to acquire a better weapon.

Her options were not ideal – either face Nael or forge the legendary monk of lore. The former required finding yet another group of skilled players to go through the encounter and hope; she didn’t like the idea of dragging her new team to old content for only her. The latter option, on the other hand, would take a lot of time and effort. Effort did not trouble the monk, rather the time did. Her team raided every night and working on the relic would take longer than a few hours to procure, no matter what she did.

Again it seemed Lady Luck had blessed her. The monk caught wind of the rumor that the weapons procured from the primal Shiva could be upgraded. The weapon upgrade simply required five diamond dusts, which fit the bill. She cracked a few of her knuckles and smirked. Nothing cures a sour mood than punching her way through.

If only the monk knew what T11 had in store for her.

* * *

Initially it was alarming to see the new area’s entrance involved splitting the group into two to proceed. Only four people could go for either path and throughout the path, they needed to help each other hand-in-hand to unlock the next corridor. The expect composition of the split groups involved one tank (warrior or paladin), healer (scholar or white mage), and two damage dealers.

As they explored the passageway, the scholar made a suggestion as they had made an observation, “The monsters on this side seems weaker to magic. Perhaps next time, we should have the ranged come here primarily.”

Through their linkshell, the raid leader agreed, “Yes Scholar. That sounds like a good plan.”

The monk also agreed, energetically punching away at the trash mobs but came to a halt. The split team the monk accompanied had reached what seemed like a dead end as a wall of lasers blocked their path. On the opposite side of the corridor, they could see the other half of their team was still clearing their share of trash mobs.

Once the mobs were cleared, Warrior stated,"We need everyone on the platform to proceed."

Scholar agreed while playfully poking fun at their other team. "Yeah… well you guys are so slow! Although…"

"Hmm?" The monk hummed curious at what the scholar had thought to bring a smile to her face.

The scholar noticed and thankfully shared, "Monk. I heard these walls were bugged. So we should be able to walk through them."

"Really?"

The monk in the distance could see the dragoon had walked into the laser wall, unharmed. It must have been true. Furthermore, the scholar’s tone of voice through the comm was serious. This seemed plausible and legitimate.

And so she ran over to the wall but as she ran, the scholar cried, “Wait! I-”

"Huh?"

Before the monk could fully catch what the scholar was trying to say, she found herself dead under pretty lights and hearing the scholar’s notorious cackling, witch-like laugh.

"OH MY GOODNESS! MY SIDE! I! I WAS KIDDING!"

The monk returned to the beginning instead of accepting the scholar’s resurrection spell, as the monk was blushing in embarrassment. As she found herself back on her two feet, she hid her face in her hands and wept silently.

To rub salt on the wound, the white mage pointed out, "And that is why you don’t listen to Scholar."

* * *

After the last platform, the team was reunited and was now engaging Kaliya, the three-headed dragon that dwelt in T11. So far the encounter seemed simple enough... minus some slight difficulties, for the monk. She was just a hair too slow to get out of Kaliya’s Nerve Gas, which rendered her vulnerable for a time to Kaliya’s next series of attacks.

Scholar commented,"Oh god… Monk."

Monk swore,"I… I know… I swear… I swear I’m out of them but then I still get hit…"

The monk had an apologetic face and her eyes seemed somewhat watered. She was afraid of being a liability. She was afraid of being dead weight.

Warrior reassured, "No worry Monk. We’re not focused on damage; we are focused on adapting and surviving mechanics. Do what you have to until you deem it safe."

The warrior was for sure a raid leader. He knew what he had to say to rally his teammates and the monk could find herself again grinning and energized to push forward. They had entered a new phase as Kaliya’s behavior changed. The three-headed dragon summoned three monsters in the form of geometric shapes – a sphere, a cube and an egg.

Quickly the warrior ordered, “I got the sphere. Black Mage! Paladin! On the cube! If needed, Bard will help. We need the cube and sphere to die at the same time.”

Percentages were being called out as the team tried to coordinate. The sphere had more than double the health of the cube and seemed more vulnerable to physical attacks whereas the cube seemed more penetrable with magic. It was not surprising why Warrior had given such orders.

"The cube is down." Paladin notified.

As if it knew, the sphere spun towards the egg. Something bad was going to happen if it made it to its destination.

Scholar exclaimed,"Guys! We need that thing dead!"

"On it!" Monk acknowledged.

The monk gritted her teeth and used her one gap-closer, shoulder tackle to immediately reach the sphere but then...

"Oh… Monk." The warrior went while trying to hold back a chuckle.

Monk began. "I- I…"

The monk was at a loss of words as she lay dying under the familiar lasers. Kaliya had erected a wall around itself of the same death wall the team had encountered earlier in the corridors. She had dashed headlong into the wall, without thinking… albeit; it was the most direct path to the sphere at the time.

Thankfully the sphere did die but they did not go much further. Kaliya removed her barrier and cast a ridiculously painful, electrifying attack called Nerve Cloud. Everyone had dropped dead as the wave of black electricity went through them. However no one was distraught, snickers could still be heard on the linkshell and as they had gone to revive, the team finally laughed, uncontrollable much to the monk’s expense.

White Mage dared ask, "Did you really just shoulder tackle into the laser wall?"

"We love you Monk." Scholar said while snickering.

The monk grumbled and had crouched, hiding her face again in her hands.

Once more to rub salt on the wound, another raid member -- the black mage this time -- commented, "Monk, you may need to consider writing the 1000 ways to die."

* * *

As the team continued through the Final Coil of Bahamut, the Monk really started debating if she should write a scripture of 1000 ways to die. It seemed like something that had to be done as she found herself again in a similar position in T12. She had found miscounted the number of Bennus were left and had jumped right into the Phoenix’s death wall of fire.

The monk wouldn’t lie, though, as she thought it’d been cool if as she jumped into the wall of fire, it dispelled and she was first to hit the dreaded bird. Instead the first to hit the boss and with style was her melee partner that came from the sky, having used one of his notorious dragoon jumps. She addressed him with respect as “Dragoon-senpai,” as he was rare; he was not one of the abundant “loldragoons” typically found dead every other second. He dealt the most damage of the team and his mechanics were flawless.

_“One day,”_ she told herself as she took one of the healer’s resurrection spells, _“I hope to be as good as Dragoon-senpai.”_

But for now, she was the Gullible Monk, master of 1000 ways to die.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Author's Note:** Thank you very much reading!


	3. The Tempered Dragoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When she tried out, the monk had no idea what she was competing against. The monk knew her role had the best raw potential for damage but she just couldn't come close to her fellow melee partner, the dragoon. Initially, the monk had thought it was gear. No, it was much more. He was the real thing. He was the dragoon of all dragoons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Dragoon [DRG]:** One of the three primary melee DPS (damage per second) classes and utilizes the lance. Prior to a recent patch, the dragoon was known for its horrible magic defense and notorious to die alot due to most attacks in the game being magic-based. Such dragoons were called "loldrgs." Dragoons are appreciated by bards because of their skill called "Disembowel," which increases piercing damage.

The team slowly regrouped at the Cerulean Processing Plant. Their natural vigor and excitement was missing, however. It was week three or four and they had not made much progress against Bahamut Prime, the final boss of the Final Coil.

Instead of the vigor though... the team's monk seemed rather distant, perturbed perhaps. She had been eying at the dragoon, who is effectively her partner in arms. T11 had made them literally tethered for half the fight and their coordination was key. After a moment of awkward silence, she finally spoke her mind.

Monk apologized and explained herself, "I'm sorry... I... I had a scary dream... and the more I think about it, the more plausible it seems."

The Black Mage seemed curious. "Oh?"

Monk elaborated, "Dragoon-senpai... he's always been too good to me."

Some of the team started to facepalm. Was this going to be a confession of some sort? It's no wonder the monk had kept silent; this would make for an awkward time. Also it had been a few days ago that she had been wed.

"Back against Kaliya, we would always die because of my issues with that tether mechanic and-" Monk continued.

Dragoon interjected, "Eh, I'm use to it."

Monk went on, "Er… yes... thank you... I had lost count... and I fathom I'll never be able to make that up to you. However, last night... I had a dream that, you finally got sick of us... well... more like, you and Scholar-sama."

The monk averted her eyes from the group and looked towards the dirt. Her voice became thick with nervousness and fear. "The dream started with Black Mage and I running away from Scholar-sama. She finally lost it... she was furious and seized a Phoenix-Egi or a Bennu... I don't know. Nonetheless, Black Mage and I were booking it out of the Main Bridge, away from the Phoenix. We eventually ran into Dragoon-senpai and thought we were saved but- but then, Dragoon-senpai also got sick of us!"

She let out a whimper and her eyes watered. The monk then fell to her knees and covered her face with her hands. She was really distraught. "Dragoon-senpai jumped onto Bahamut Prime's shoulder and ordered Bahamut Prime to flare breath us, left and right! It was horrifying! Horrifying!"

The dragoon chuckled and reassured the monk. "Don't worry. I wouldn't hit our team, if I did."

The monk looked at him, worried and skeptical. However she let it go as with the end of her tale, the raid leader beckoned them to the portal. Maybe today will be the day they'll see the mythical Terraflare.

* * *

Like clockwork, the team regrouped in the Cerulean Processing Plant and made their way to the portal. Were they tired? Did they want to give up? None of these thoughts seemed to dawn upon the group. Their eyes had long glazed over from seeing the familiar arena and the blue dragon in front of them. Heck, the white mage had begun bringing earbuds as he swore he heard old men singing. It was only when the white mage and scholar had finished casting their protective spells upon the team, that the team seemed to "wake up." The monk had fallen backwards and onto all fours. She had become pale and was looking... towards the dragoon?

The dragoon had air hugged the blue dragon but it seemed only the monk had seen. The black mage and warrior had turned to the monk, wondering what was wrong.

Black Mage  Hmm?"

The monk tried to point but it was too late. The dragoon had jumped onto Bahamut Prime, who made its way towards them.

Paladin noticed, "Oh."

Everything was engulfed in blue fire and for once the white mage didn't hear old men singing but Scholar-sama screaming on top of her lungs, "DRAGOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!"


	4. The Sassy White Mage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A raid group is neither without struggle nor drama. The raid team has gone through their second white mage and are now giving a third white mage a tryout. He seems skilled but his personality is strong. Will his skill and personality work well with the team?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **White Mage [WHM]:** One of the two healer classes; it utilizes a staff and has a wide repertoire of strong, party-wide heals. Typical raid groups utilizes one white mage and one scholar as their healers. The white mage primarily focuses on healing the team and if necessary, can also heal tanks while the scholar deals damage for additional overall damage.

All good things come to an end or perhaps, things come to an end to make room for something better. The latter was hopefully the case for the team. The team had lost yet another white mage. The first had caused issues to the scholar and bard; both had threatened to quit because of the white mage. In turn, the raid leader had decided to kick the previous white mage. As for the second one, a case of wanderlust happened and the white mage couldn't be found. A search for a replacement was in order, and they had acquired one helluva sassy white mage.

The new white mage was very vocal, a plus for sure. Communication was key after all for success. However little did Scholar-sama know her soon-to-be healing partner, had not cleared T12, let alone T11. No one had told the scholar this, until they were already halfway through fighting T11.

Scholar screamed in surprise, "WHAT IS THIS?!"

White Mage reminded himself, "Left first. Left first. OH MY GOD. I SWEAR I WAS OUT OF THAT."

Scholar complained, "Oh my god... I hate this turn..."

And to add fuel to the fire, the new white mage had no endgame gear. He was effectively like a relic of the past -- before Final Coil became a thing.

But the dragoon reassured the panicking monk and the thoughtful raid leader, "Don't worry. It's not like we get anything else but healer loot. Just watch him get more loot than Monk and me has all this time."

The dragoon was right as the new white mage got his third Dreadwyrm gear to drop. The hood and boots had fallen from T11. Now he had acquired the belt. Surely, the same will be said in T12 although that in itself was going to be a bigger hurdle, a few of the team thought. The new white mage had only seen recon information of the fight and not entered the fight himself. It also didn't help how the scholar was explaining the fight.

Scholar proclaimed, "White Mage, I'm only going to say this once."

The white mage gulped hard and nodded.

scholar continued. "You will stay here, not move and look pretty. I will do all the moving."

White Mage asked for confirmation, "Like... like this?"

For a moment, the black mage and the monk coughed thinking the scholar meant something entirely different.

Scholar confirmed, "Right and then we'll both protect ourselves with Adloquium and Stoneskin as Brand and Mark of Unforgiveness goes out..."

The monk chuckled and elbowed the black mage. She commented, "Not going to lie... I thought we were just witnessing the makings of an affair."

The black mage had sighed in relief as the scholar and him were married. Hearing the Phoenix's skills was reassuring... for now...

* * *

After one or two wipes, the team had made it to the final phase where literally everything was on fire. The Phoenix had summoned egi's that would routinely tether to a target and charge at them. If that was not bad enough, the Phoenix would cast Flames of Rebirth, which was a map-range fire attack that hurt everyone. Furthermore, the Phoenix placed a Fountain of Fire that could buff it even further if no one intercepted the tether. Brand and Mark of Unforgiveness also still occurred in this phase but that mechanic was now handled by the tanks. However the phase started with the brand being placed on anyone; unfortunately the white mage was the target. The white mage then proceeded to run towards the scholar.

Scholar panicked and tried to direct their potential new white mage, "NO NO NONONONONONONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! INTO THE FOUNTAIN!"

White Mage countered, "But! But I have the marker!"

An explosion goes off the white mage and promptly, he ran around like a headless chicken in the fountain.

White Mage yelled, "I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON!!!"

Scholar yelled, "OUT WHITE MAGE! YOU'RE GOING TO DIE! OH. MY. F’ING. GOD. YOU ARE DEAD!"

The Phoenix flew up and where there was once a fountain of fire, was the corpse of a white mage.

White Mage was at a loss of what just happened. "I don't even. What."

White the Phoenix was missing, spumes of fire could be found littering the floor and Phoenix-Egi assaulting the team from the sky. It wasn't surprising to see so many of the team getting close to dying as the Scholar was working to revive the fallen white mage. Now was the best time, especially as the Phoenix acquired stacks for each fallen member in this phase.

Scholar groaned. "You guys... are killing me... Giving me a heart attack and- GET UP! GET UP WHITE MAGE!"

Immediately, the white mage rose as the Phoenix returned and the final assault was underway.

On top of his lungs, the white mage cheered, "I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON BUT KILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL IT! KILL! IT!"

* * *

Again the dragoon's words were proven true; the healing ring had dropped and he now more Dreadwyrm gear than both the monk and dragoon put together. The white mage was ecstatic for seeing the end of T12 and thus far, he seemed to work well with the scholar. Surely, he was going to pass the tryout but the hardest part was just about to unfold -- T13.

* * *

As the team entered the arena, the monk eyed the white mage.

White Mage wondered, "What?"

Monk stated, "You need more health..."

White Mage shrugged it off. "Eh. I'll be fine. It'll be fine."

"No. I don't think you understand."

"IT'S FINE!"

"... Okay."

Perhaps the fact the team had not gotten through T13 yet but the white mage seemed calmer and less nervous. Actually, the better word may be-- focused. The white mage had yet to falter as the team entered the second phase, the furthest they've been in at the time. He was surely doing a splendid job for being a first timer in T13, especially with his current gear. And then as if Final Coil was adhering to the melee class’s wisdom, the white mage found himself dead after a **M** egaflare.

White Mage exclaimed in surprise,"Did… Did I really just die BECAUSE I HAD 4 LESS HEALTH?"

Without a white mage at the second phase, everything quickly turned for the worst and the team found themselves dead. Upon reviving, the dragoon had looked over the recon information they had gathered and confirmed the white mage’s dead. The white mage found himself eyed once again by the monk. He pointed at the monk and motioned to speak but she beat him to the punch.

The monk had looked away and mumbled, really quickly what she had thought."Told you so."

The white mage’s heart sank a little in humiliation as he had hoped his eyes had hinted, “Don’t you dare say it!” However he cleared his throat and smirked as they had left the dreaded arena, and the raid leader formally welcomed him to the team.

The White Mage grinned as he obliged, "Looking forward to working with you all."

The white mage for certain knew he had now an infinite number of chances for revenge.


	5. The Unlucky Paladin & the Rise of a God

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the latest addition to their team, the team has managed to defeat Bahamut Prime and now tries to farm the instance for its loot. Considering the content was aging, Square Enix (SE) has provided Echo, a status effect to buff the team's damage and health, to help make the instance easier. Unfortunately, the Echo does not prove to do so for the team and if that wasn't enough, some things are better left not said...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Paladin [PLD]:** Paladin is one of the two tanking classes of FFXIV: AAR. It wields a shield and sword, and utilizes defensive cooldowns to mitigate the damage it takes. The paladin is often times the main tank in raids due to the latter and also for the fact warriors, the other tanking class, has more DPS potential.

It had been a month since the team had cleared T13 and now, a new effect had been added to the fight called echo. The echo bestowed the team 10% additional damage and health, which effectively increased the chance of recovery. However as the team tried to farm T13, the team was making amateurish mistakes -- dying anywhere from the very first phase to halfway through the dive phase. Frustration was escalating but no one was more vocal than the white mage.

White Mage tried to rally the team, "Come on guys. We’ve done this without echo. This should be a cake walk."

Monk suggested an alternative, "Maybe… it will be better to change the agenda… maybe we should go back to farming ponies."

Dragoon opposed, "Eh… I’d rather be with my waifu and I don’t need another drop—"

Scholar interrupted, "DON’T FINISH THAT SENTENCE!"

Dragoon continued nonetheless,  "--of the Garuda card."

The scholar facepalmed as a catastrophe was in the making… or one would think.

Paladin asked, "You… got the Garuda card?"

Dragoon confirmed, "Yup."

Paladin pouted, "… I’m going to turn this boss around-"

White Mage rebutted, "DON’T YOU DARE!"

Paladin teased, Hehehe."

Dragoon elaborated,  "And if that wasn’t bad, I started running the dungeons for the dungeon atmas."

Paladin then fell silent. Perhaps the tease was no longer just a tease...

"I’ve gotten several Morbol and Tonberry cards. I don’t want to know how many times I’ve repeatedly run through a dungeon for those dungeon drops." Dragoon continued.

Paladin swore; this time it didn't sound he was joking, "I swear I’m going to turn this boss around at 2% and-"

White Mage RUDE! If you do that Paladin, I am leaving. I’ve had enough of you and your antics, good sir! SIR!

Warrior tried to console the team, "Guys. Guys. We got this."

The team finally got passed the second set of dives but as the raid leader grabbed one of the mobs, a tank limit break went off.

White Mage blinked. "What. The. Hell."

Warrior apologized, "Sorry guys. I DERPED. I’m dumb. Sorry guys."

Scholar sighed and ordered, "Just wipe it."

* * *

The instance was reset and the team was again standing before Bahamut Prime. The white mage covered his ears in futile as he again swore he heard old men singing. With a pained face, he stated his ultimatum. "One more try and… I don’t think I can take anymore of this nonsense."

Monk agreed, "Sounds good. Let’s make this count in that case."

" We can’t do this fight anymore…" Black Mage sulked.

The monk stepped back and looked at the black mage shocked but soon grimaced, becoming defensive. "Black Mage, we can do this fight. We’re just not use to this echo and we’re messing up with the transition. We got this."

White Mage suggested, "Then let’s take off the echo—"

The white mage’s suggestion fell to deaf ears as the paladin had pulled Bahamut Prime.

* * *

White Mage: Oh god! I’m going to get hit!

The team had made it to the dive phase but already things were not looking good. As the white mage had noted, he was hit by Bahamut and was almost pushed to the death wall surrounding the arena. The monk grimaced as she looked behind her and about to grit her teeth to see the white mage about to die. Bahamut was casting Megaflare and already red circles could be found littering the field. The second part of the attack was coming. The volley of beams was coming down; the white mage had been targeted.

The monk thought to herself, _“He is so screwed,”_ as she watched the short white mage run in futile away from the volley. However, the white mage thought otherwise.

White Mage began,  "I."

He wielded his staff and a light began to gather.

"AM."

The beams landed and the arena became covered in smoke and debris. Surely a corpse belonging to the white mage would be found once the dust cleared… or so we expected. Dashing through the smoke, the short white mage appeared with a dying, bright light from his staff.

"GOD!"

Monk groaned, "My… god…"

As Bahamut Prime summoned additional monsters, the white mage regrouped with the team and answered the stunned monk with a smirk. "Yes, my child?"

To his misfortune however, his epic moment was toned down.

Scholar smugly asked although already knowing full well what he had done, "Did you just benediction yourself?"

The white mage pouted. "Yes. Yes I did. I was a scrub but you know what—"

Warrior cried for help, "SCHOLAR! I’M DYING!"

Paladin slightly began to panic, "Uh… I need heals. Death sentence."

Scholar sighed. "Oh hush. You’re fine, you big baby."

Warrior demanded, "HEAL ME!"

White Mage exasperatedly pacified the two panicking tanks, "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

* * *

Rejuvenated from the white mage’s miraculous stunt, the team pushed forward to the final phase of Bahamut Prime. Bahamut Prime was now using one of its two new mechanics – Ankh Morn. Ankh Morn was a tank buster, which did more damage, the more times it was used. Massive healing was necessary for the tanks to survive. Five times it would happen before Bahamut Prime would kill them all instantly. The first had gone smooth and they prepared for the second. The second required the tanks to switch and in position, the warrior grits his teeth to prepare for the incoming pain.

Although the attack was a sight instilling fear to the tanks and healers, the others of the team couldn’t help but stand in awe of the attack. Ankh Morn greatly resembled the melee limit break Final Heaven and appeared as a pillar of pure light that engulfed everything in sight.

Scholar commanded, "Time to focus."

"All right time to focus—what the hell?" White Mage agreed until something caught his attention.

Unfortunately the second Ankh Morn went far from smooth. The warrior stood clueless as the Ankh Morn had targeted the paladin and the monk. Soon after everyone was dropping like dominoes, one after the other.

White Mage hollered, "PALADIN!"

Paladin was confused. "I don’t know what happened. I didn’t even—"

White Mage retaliated. "PALADIN! All right guys, I’m out."

Scholar tried to console, "Guys…"

True to his word, the white mage teleported away and the scholar follow suit. One by one, the team left the instance. Only the paladin and dragoon were left.

Paladin tried to disprove, "But I didn’t—" but gave up. He sighed and shrugged. _“Oh well,”_ he thought.

He motioned to teleport but couldn’t as the dragoon leaped towards Bahamut Prime. Lady Luck was surely not on his side.


	6. Heavenward & The "Best-in-Slot" Bard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An isolated nation to the north has opened its doors and a new adventure awaits. However, not everything stays the same for nothing good ever lasts long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Author's Notes:** It's been awhile since I updated but as this chapter suggests, the expansion for FFXIV came out and well... all time and space gets sucked in at launch. Alongside that, I've had real life matters, which on its own has eaten my motivation on writing. Another thing I've noticed is that as of the paladin chapter, the humor I had once strove for has become less and less and with this chapter -- probably at its lowest. I would also like to point out that the stories have almost caught up to the current point the raid groups' I hang out with are -- Alexander Savage: Fist of the Father (A1S). That being said though, I have yet to cover everyone in the static I hang out with and there are still some miscellaneous tales to cover involving the preparation for raid so there is a few chapters to still kink out. 
> 
> **Bard [BRD]:** In FFXIV, the Bard class is a combination of a minstrel/songstress and archer class. It is neither a true support nor true DPS; however, it is considered the class closest to the role of support. The Bard is not only able to have an outstanding burst but can supply the party with various buffs such as mana regeneration (Mage's Ballad; healers love this), TP regeneration (Army's Peon; what non-magic classes use), and Foe's Requiem (mages love this). 
> 
> Best-in-Slot (BiS) is a term referring to a given item or role that is best in whatever respect it is used in. For example, a bow may be considered BIS for a Bard or for a roster team, a bard is always considered in BiS when considering the four DPS slot (debatable now with the Machinist class introduced). This term is used in this chapter as a nickname referring to a reddit article the static joked about that can be found [ here ](http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comments/2u8028/the_terrible_guide_to_final_coil_of_bahamut/)

A snowstorm raged and it was nearly impossible to see a few steps forward. The weary traveler stopped, sighed and look to the sky. The sky was white and the wind howled. Whatever was behind and whatever was ahead of the traveler, it was as good as erased or blank. However standing where he or she was, death would only be his or her companion and thus, the traveler gritted his or her teeth and pushed forward.

* * *

After knocking out a few heretics, the traveler found herself or himself inside an abandoned cottage of some sort. It was – in a morbid sense – a rather sweet home, away from home if ignoring the questionable cult relics adorning the walls or the fact there was rotting livestock in the stable outside. Nonetheless, it was shelter from the snowstorm that continues to rage outside and the traveler removed his or her ragged cloak and sat in front of a slowly, dying flame in the fireplace. The traveler was the gullible monk.

It had been months since her new raid team finally defeated Bahamut Prime and had long looted the fallen primal’s keep of all its splendors. In time, they had become somewhere well-known to their peers in Mor Dhona and other raiders. They managed to help others make their way through the area and even considered helping form groups for future dungeons that laid in the horizon.

Unfortunately, the horizon wasn’t as promising as they had hoped. An exodus had started for one reason or another and one-by-one, their former comrades-in-arms left. And like if bad things must come together, half the raid team were preoccupied with more pressing matters as Ishgard had opened its gates to adventurers. Surely as a raid team, they needed to get through the new area and prepare for the new raid that waits beyond the horizon. In all, the situation was looking grim as it had not improved in the last two weeks.

Furthermore, the gullible monk had been asked by one of their former comrade-in-arms, if she wanted to come with them. The former comrade still exchanged mail – a rare thing compared to all that had left. A few months ago to the time before she had joined her current raid team, the monk knew she would have taken it with not much hesitation. However now, there was nothing but hesitation.

 _“Things had to get better. It can’t get any worse than this,”_ she thought, a thought she found herself reiterating rather often as of late.

The gullible monk renewed the fire, poorly, with some damp wood she found within her reach.

She frowned as she muttered, “Just kidding. It has.”

* * *

Before she had decided to adventure to Ishgard on her own, the gullible monk had met with her raid team. They had hoped to raid together one last time before the doors to Ishgard had opened; however, they were one short. Their bard was missing. The team was use to this though. The bard had a history of running late from his fishing trips and at times, even came to raid with his fishing rod instead of his bow and arrows. Unfortunately, the trend has been worsening recently. He was becoming later and later.

The scholar grumbled, “Guys… I only have one hour tonight… We need to get going. Where’s Bard?”

The Warrior, the raid leader, was abnormally quiet and checking the nearby mail box. He usually would say he was getting in touch with the bard but now, he remained silent. It did not bode well.

“But! Scholar! Bard is worth it! He’s our best-in-slot!” The white mage exclaimed.

The black mage and monk chuckled, nodding in agreement. It was an inside joke of the bard being considered best-in-slot. His voice was enamoring and made the white mage swoon every time he spoke. Furthermore, the scholar would try to beckon the bard to speak to her in his native tongue. The bard and warrior, after all, were not from the same area as most of the team. They had a rather interesting, alluring accent.

Nonetheless, the black mage and monk were not smirking because of the bard’s voice. Instead, their smirks were from their experience with the bard when the team had faced the Phoenix from T12 and Melusine from Savage T7. The bard had notoriously slapped the two countless times for their mistakes involving the mechanics the bard had managed.

“He sure is worth it. After all, how would we have handled that red fire?” The monk pointed out.

The dragoon jumped down from his high perch overseeing the free company’s house, “You mean the one tethered to you? Specifically, the one tethered to you who kept running around in a circle? The one I knew meant we weren’t going to get past that phase.”

The monk chuckled nervously and then the dragoon turned to the black mage, “Or do you mean the blue fire Black Mage sprinted over accidentally? Promptly after which, we were burnt to death.”

The black mage whistled and looked away; he was clearly guilty as charged.

“On another note… who would be the person to say ‘Ta-dah’ in that heavenly voice and steal the limit break from White Mage?” The monk again pointed out.

“… Will the bard from your free company (FC), Monk, be able to join us?” The raid leader asked abruptly.

The monk blinked and responded, “No… he is a part of another raid team; however I can ask if he can substitute for us on his non-raid days. Why?”

The scholar had joined the warrior near the mailbox and she shook her head.

Her arms were crossed as she spoke, “No good. We can’t take another raid team’s bard.”

“Right but it could be a temporary solution until Bard can regroup with us?” The monk continued, questionably and still clueless of what was being hinted.

It was then that the raid leader finally turned around to the team and propped his battle axe to the ground.

“As of today, Bard can no longer join us and we need to find a new… Best-in-Slot,” the warrior announced.

In the warrior’s hand was a letter from the bard.

> **“Will try to return soon… but may take two months. –Fishing.”**

The bard had left the team. The once bleakly hopeful atmosphere dwindled to nothing but sadness. The dragoon and paladin shrugged; they accepted it as part of the cycle of raid teams. People come and go. The black mage had walked a few steps away and looked to the ground; he had lost a comrade he had fought alongside with for a year. The white mage and scholar had fallen to their knees; they were the most dramatically affected of them all. It made sense though. He was their mana battery. He was always there for them when they were at their wits end. The bard was not only for the healers – although they have clearly lost someone more dearly than to the others – for the rest of the team had lost a reliable comrade-in-arms. They had joked about a mechanic for T12 but in itself that mechanic was a potential raid wipe, which the bard had easily handled on his own. The bard had their backs and now he was gone.

* * *

The fire had long died out in the shelter and the gullible monk was nowhere to be seen.


	7. The Calculating Ninja

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The expansion Heavensward is in full swing and on top of the new areas and new tools, the primal Alexander has awakened. A new challenge lies before the raid team and changes are to be made, no matter how such could harm one's pride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** I've been meaning to post this chapter. I apologize! However I assure more updates are under way. Thanks for reading ahead of time. Any comments/kudos are welcomed. :3
> 
>  **Ninja [NIN]:** The most recent addition to the Melee DPS classes; it is a class that utilizes dual daggers and a mechanic called Ninjitsu. Ninjitsu requires the use of at least one mudra in order to perform a particular Ninjitsu. Unlike the monk and dragoon, this class is more utility-based as its personal DPS contribution is somewhat lower to any of the other DPS classes. One utility it offers is the debuff imposed by Trick Attack, which allows the team to do 10% more damage to the affected target. In addition to Trick Attack, it offers aggro management as of Heavensward. At the start of tackling Heavensward, Ninja was a popular choice alongside dragoon due to the aggro management allowing for tanks to maintain aggro while dealing more damage to meet the unforgiving DPS checks Alexander Savage imposes.

With the introduction of new content, everything seems plausible but on the same token, everything is subject to be compared to the past. Heavensward introduced three new classes and five new skills for each current class. Three and five may sound like small numbers. Surely such didn’t mean there was much of a game changer, right?

The new classes and skills were difficult to judge if good or bad. Yes, it was perhaps too early to deem such, especially with the raids only recently being accessible. However off the bat, it was very clear that the skills for the old classes were not implemented with the same mindset as the new classes. Classes such as the white mage and monk did not receive any game-changing skills; they received skills that addressed weaker points they had and made them better at their current role. On the other hand, classes such as black mage, scholar and bard received skills that were more situational. In all, not all skills for current classes were meant to be used frequently and more specifically for certain situations. Not many were pleased with this. It was especially not enjoyable for Bards that favored their DPS aspect more than their support and argued that they were losing more DPS when using their new skill, Wanderer’s Minuet. The skill also affected the Bard’s gameplay by essentially making them a physical counterpart to the black mage as it punished movement or primarily prevented auto attacks while in that stance. In a similar token, some folks joked that the developers had rendered every DPS into a Monk with its blasphemy, greased lightning III. This was visibly true when considering the black mages and dragoon; both classes had obtained a buff to improve their DPS at the expense of the buff needing maintenance to continue doing “higher” DPS.

However on a brighter note, the new classes were clearly structured to be fully utilized by the time they reached maximum level and not all classes were robbed of anything new for gameplay. Ninja, for one, was given skills to help manage the aggro table, which was not as directly manipulative before Heavensward. Skills such as “Provoke” and “Shroud of the Saints” were the only means of changing the direction of aggro. The ninja had received skills that could either redirect the aggro itself – the ninja – generated onto a given target via “Shadewalker” or significantly reduce the aggro generation a designated target produces through the skill “Smoke Screen.” Such skills were also becoming more important when considering every class now seemed to generate more aggro than ever before. Of course, it still had room for debate as it was still early in the expansion’s launch and in the words of the developers; “git gud” was a very plausible reason why things were not going well for the raiding community.

Stretching his arms, the warrior spoke to what looked like a rock, “I don’t know. A team with a good tank wouldn’t need such... Ninja.”

A poof of smoke went off on top of the boulder the warrior stood next to and revealed a ninja. The ninja sat cross-legged on a boulder and seemed preoccupied with paperwork she laid on her lap.

The Ninja responded, “Eh… even as a good tank like yourself Warrior, you’ve had some runs where White Mage McSassy Pants or even the Scholar’s Eos, dies on you from unsuccessful snap pulls.”

The raid leader Warrior was relaxing at Moghome after having run around for countless quests the moogles had sent him and the ninja just happened to be in the area or so it seemed. The ninja was a friend of the warrior and his raid team, and often times a target to the Scholar and Black Mage’s attempts to recruit her. She had helped their FC on several clears and had helped another raid team’s formation. Unfortunately, the ninja seemed rather content with her current FC arrangement and more inclined with whatever paperwork she was looking at.

The ninja continued, “Then what about those moments you accidentally took aggro in those T10 farm runs we use to do? Often times we’d have to restart as you somehow manage to cleave and kill the entire raid group. It simply boils down to one cooldown to prevent that or restart waiting forever for everyone’s cooldowns. It does, however, have a long cooldown itself so it can’t be easily spammed.”

In the corner of her eye, the Ninja thought the warrior had staggered a bit from her response. She sighed and put the paperwork before her in order and looked forward, with arms crossed. The Ninja had taken that as a sign of her having gone too far with her blunt honesty. It was a double-edge sword as it had at times helped her friends when trying to determine new tactics outside the instances but also at times, led to unnecessary drama elsewhere. After all, who likes to be pointed out and blamed for a given raid wipe or the overall failure of an instance?

A weak attempt she knew but still she voiced it, “Sorry. I came here to be a ninja but in the past have been ‘forced’ to play monk as everything here is magic damage and hits ridiculously. Now, it seems a plausible opportunity to consider ninjas in the raid lineup. I agree that a good tank will render those skills useless in the long-term but for raid teams seeking progression as soon as possible, I think Ninja may offer what is needed right now.”

Suddenly the sound of a raging dragon could be heard from above their heads and the warrior and ninja couldn’t help but back away, drawing their weapons. To their surprise, it was simply the dragoon doing his thing – falling from the sky with his spear at hand. He propped an arm on his waist and jumped into the conversation, literally.

“With the Paladin going Dark Knight, going Ninja makes sense,” the Dragoon went; he was clearly in range of eavesdropping.

The Ninja let a sweat drop roll down her cheek as she sheathed her weapons and again crossed her arms, nodding. She tried to regain her composure as the dragoon still had the jump on her. The Dragoon was the one she could least anticipate or predict of the warrior’s raid team.

“Yes. It gets annoying and confusing, seeing a debuff bounce between two classes and although mathematically, the monk’s dragon kick would be better, having trick attack would help the overall DPS of the team,” the Ninja concurred.

“The burst will be good for this instance,” the Warrior finally spoke and then turned to the Aetheryte, “so let’s give it a shot.”

The Ninja smiled and gave a thumbs up to the Warrior.

“Good luck my friends!” The Ninja exclaimed and was ready to see them teleport away but instead found them still standing before her, even staring at her.

She blinked and then noticed, she had been invited to the party by the Warrior.


	8. Not so Faust & The Forgotten [Dark] Knight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The raid team has finally entered Alexander Savage but clearly were getting too ahead of themselves... the gatekeeper was clearly too Faust for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Change of plans! I had originally hoped to cover Alexander Savage 1: The Fist of the Father entirely but as I wrote, the Faust part could stand on its own. 
> 
> **Dark Knight [DRK]:** One of the classes introduced in Heavensward and is the third tank class available to play. The Dark Knight wields a great sword and possesses superior magic defense compared to the other tank classes. Unlike Paladin, the Dark Knight possesses a higher DPS capability and unlike the Warrior, the Dark Knight utilizes its mana for a majority of its skills. It is currently preferred for its higher magic defense and DPS capability to the Paladin -- both are assets for the current raid content which is primarily DPS checks and magic damage. Unfortunately, Dark Knight's temporary invulnerability ability "Living Dead" is the worst of the three as it requires the Dark Knight to healed at least his max HP before the ability wears off or the Dark Knight dies.

"We seem to be wiping at approximately two minutes and forty seconds to that Pressure attack," the Ninja mumbled.

"That must be the enrage," the White Mage reasoned.

The team sighed as they hanged back in the corridor and away from the sight of the Gatekeeper Faust. They had been wiping countless times for the past half hour and couldn't help feeling both baffled and frustrated. The team knew the gatekeeper was nothing but trash or were constantly reminded by the the White Mage as he reiterated whenever the team fell silent.

"Such a stupid DPS Check!" The White Mage yelled in frustration.

"At least this time my fairy lived," The Scholar commented while looking to the Warrior with narrowed eyes.

The Warrior coughed and looked away, "What fairy?"

"WARRIOR! We need White Mage to DPS and that means MY FAIRY can't be taking aggro," The Scholar went, "and if she dies, we're all dead!"

"Uh.... think I need to stay in range for Faust so I need everyone to stack for me to easily grab the dolls," The Warrior said, trying to change the topic.

"WARRRRRRIORRRR!!!" The Scholar fumed before stomping away away and rambling, "just you wait. Your life is in my hands..."

"Ready," The Summoner finally spoke and the group started to walk towards the gatekeeper.

"Do you guys mind if we do something for science?" The Ninja asked as they unsheathed their weapons.

"Ut -oh... I don't like the sound of this..." The White Mage started; he was starting to realize how experimental the Ninja was.

The Ninja pulled out a scroll, which had smeared ink; she had surely written this recently but it escaped the team as to when and where she had done so.

"From my observations, the enrage hits at approximately one minute and forty seconds. Warrior and Dark Knight start taking significantly more damage at about two minutes and fifteen seconds... or approximately when Faust is about 40/50%. Additionally..." The Ninja continued before trailing off as she tried to decipher her own work, "that enrage attack seems to be a one shot... uh..."

The Ninja looked up to her teammates. She swore she heard crickets and her teammates' had glazed over. She sighed and rolled her scroll before smiling.

"In a nutshell, I recommend Dark Knight to use Living Dead and heals be focused on Warrior starting at two minute and fifteen seconds. Fifteen seconds later, Warrior should do the same to try to buy more time for the rest of us to DPS," The Ninja finished.

"Sounds like a plan. It's go time people!" The White Mage ushered after entering Cleric Stance.

"We ready?" The Dark Knight again asked.

"Warrior hehehehe!" The Scholar mumbled while smirking at the Warrior.

The Ninja did some hand gestures and a whirl of wind wrapped her; she then did another gesture pointing at the Dark Knight. With the additional aura effect of Shadewalker, the Dark Knight jumped onto the Gatekeeper Faust.

A dust cloud seemed to from around the group and the Gatekeeper Faust and its minions. Blasts of disease could be seen coloring the cloud every few seconds. A dragoon jumped into the sky. Familiar wings adore the summoner as a pillar of light fell to the sky. A holy was cast. However all such sound died in comparison to the yells.

"Time, Ninja?" the White Mage asked as he had returned to his healing duties.

"About time you healed me White Mage! What madness is this for healers to not heal!" The Dark Knight poked fun.

"Enough, you!" the White Mage refuted. "AHHHHH WARRIOR! GET. IT. OFF. ME!"

"Oops. Sorry." The Warrior went as he provoked the stray strummed doll.

"Living Dead now Dark Knight! 15s Warrior! We got this!" The Ninja said.

"Okay ignoring Dark Knight now. C'mon guys! 4%! KILL! IT!" The White Mage

"Wait what--" The Dark Knight tried to ask but was then hit by the enrage attack, "you let me die White Mage!"

One by one the team started to get hit by the one shot. Next was Warrior. Then the White Mage.

"You got this guys," the Warrior cheered as he fell to the ground.

"Oh my god Dark Knight... that's the point. C'mon guys. 1%! DOTS! EVERYTHING! JUST KILL IT!" the White Mage pleaded as he became a restless soul needing to the Sending.

"This is what you get for leaving me to die!" The Dark Knight repeated.

The Summoner dotted as he somehow infinitely sprinted around the arena before also joining his teammates.

"You're next Dragoon-senpai," The Ninja spoke as she threw a dagger.

"Nope," the Dragoon said as he elusively jumped away.

"Good gob," the Ninja cursed under her breath as the Dragoon had turned the aggro table.

However as Faust cleaved the Ninja, the Dragoon Dragon Spineshattered back but did not land the finishing blow. Instead, an arrow of Misery's End had finished off the gatekeeper; the arrow had flown from the entrance.

As the team released and gathered around the gatekeeper's corpse, they found themselves in the company of someone they had thought long left them. It was the Best-in-Slot Bard.

"Hey. Alexander." The Bard went.

"BARDDDDD YOU'RE BACK!" The white mage wept and went to hug but noticed the LB1 went off.

"I got an LB now!" The Bard pointed out.

The white mage breathed exasperatedly and shook his head. the Summoner instead hugged the Mi'qote Bard in the White mage's stead.

"White Mage... I think you're forgetting something really important..." The Dark Knight said with a discomforting sweet-sounding voice.

"What is it now, Dark Knight?" The White Mage turned to the voice and found the Dark Knight had yet to release, "Oh... my... baby... Jesus... just... you...."

"You left me to die!" The Dark Knight cried before mumbling, "I'm the bestest tank... the goodest of good and you let me die...."

"Oh! Oh! I got this!" The Dragoon went while jumping towards the Dark Knight and White Mage; the Dragoon rummaged through his pocket.

"What... are you? No.... way..." The Ninja went before facepalming; the Scholar had long cackled at the turn of the events. The Dragoon had used a Phoenix Down.

"The Dragoon. Has. Revived. The. Dark Knight." The Scholar stated as she slow clapped and then proceeded to the next chamber.

"Let's go guys! It's finally time for the Oppressor!" The Warrior finally said and had followed the Scholar down the slide and into the next chamber.

The team could guess what was happening though as soon the Warrior's voice could be heard. He was surely pleading for his life.

"NO. I'M SORRY. I WON'T KILL YO FAIRY. I PROMISE SCHOLAR."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N:** As one can infer, the Bard has returned and that at least one of the raid team members have changed classes. The Paladin and Dark Knight are technically played by the same person. 
> 
> Thanks for reading and as always comments are welcomed. More updates sure to come as I've fallen behind.


	9. Gordias & A Rogue Raider

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Progression and fun at times do not come hand-in-hand.

A ninja quietly descended down one of the many pipes and sighed, taking consideration of her surroundings to determine her bearings.

 _"Alone."_ She quickly concluded when seeing not another gobwalker or Illuminati in her path.

The ninja sheathed her other dagger but retained her cautious walk down the current vacant hallway. Anything could happen for time now was relative in this summon.

 _"Tch. A dead end. Looks like that pipe led to yet another chute for ventilation purposes or something of that nature."_ The ninja presumed before sheathing her remaining dagger and leaning against a nearby crate.

She retrieved one of her scrolls and grimaced seeing many were damaged, most beyond repair. They had all been drenched and her ink had long run, rendering the parchment into a murky blackness.

 _"Just like me."_ The ninja humored herself and sardonically chuckled, tossing the useless pages before her.

Before landing to the floor, the ninja performed a Jin and Ten mudra to blast a ball of fire from her breath. In the parchments' places were nothing but ashes or crumbling scorched paper. She shook her head, chiding herself how the gesture was over the top. Now would be a perfect time for anything to jump her as she was not at her best for another twenty seconds. But then did it matter?

How many times had she engaged with another band of adventurers in Alexander only for the same mistake to be repeated over and over again? The Oppressor turned unexpectedly and the entire team was immediately cleaved, rendering yet another wipe. The newest machinery the Illuminati tossed -- humongous mechanical spiders -- and miniature Fausts ambushed and oneshot the unprepared.

The ninja sighed once more and closed her eyes. Voices of the unfortunately not-so-distant past came to mind.

_"GET IT OFF ME!"_

_"I need you to provoke. We can't afford to get hit."_

_"Those need to be taken out. We can't stay alive."_

_"You're taking too much damage. There must be another way."_

_"I need mana!"_

_"Don't kill it! I need another charge for the gobwalker."_

_"We need stacks and focus fire on this spider."_

_"Enrage. We need to kill it now. KILL IT!"_

_"Ninja -- why no Shadewalker?"_

_"We need more DPS here."_  
_"-- If we can pull just fifteen seconds--"_  
_"--Crit Adlo, let's go!"_

They belonged to her former comrades that most had long departed from the primal and ventured with another band of adventurers. Comrades she had worked with for the past year scattered as the struggle was beginning to be not worth it. The time spent struggling began to be debatable if it was worthwhile. And if it was not the time, did their current team had the means necessary to pull through? Did they have the drive they once had to do so?

Herself included as she no longer could commit the time.

 _"No,"_ she went and corrected herself. She too had done the same and here she was dragging her feet. The only difference was she remained in this primal. She was determined to see to the end but now, it did not matter how. _"As long as the means meet the ends..." she_ tried to convince herself.

_"We need to focus our DPS."_  
_"Sorry I may have Bane'd."_  
_"We've seen past this phase multiple times. Do what you have been doing before. Come on guys."_

_"I swear I was there! It just didn't transfer."_  
_"Perhaps if one of you stand still?"_  
_"We did and he kept repeatedly going through me; it won't transfer."_

_"This fight is so poorly designed when considering people's locations."_  
_"They need to nerf this."_  
_"This DPS check is too obscene."_

The ninja shook her head and got up, remaining in this location would do no good for her. She climbed up to another promising pipe she could traverse in but nearly fell back down. Trembles could be felt throughout the chamber and they were only getting stronger.

"What's going on?" The ninja vocalized while looking around for any sign of perhaps the Illuminati had found her and gob forbid was drilling into the very chute she was in. "ACK!"

She cursed under breath as she lost her grip and fell into a pipe. As everywhere she looked turned into darkness, the ninja figured what was going on. The entire chamber was moving and tilted; she was currently located in the other arm of Alexander. Once more the primal was making a move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N:** The first tier of Alexander was "over tuned" in difficulty for the typical raider from Coil. A number of raid communities died out on smaller servers as raiders flocked to more prominent raid scenes such as Gilgamesh. The issue of progression vs. fun became more apparent as raiders question whether to raid with friends or with other raiders.
> 
> That being said, this chapter serves as a summary/time skip of sorts for Gordias and makes way for a new raid team to take the spotlight in the next raid tier of Alexander -- Midas.
> 
> Thanks for reading and I apologize for practically a year since I updated. Throughout the year I had tried multiple times to write the installment for this work with the humor the initial chapters had only for it to be for naught for Alexander Gordias. I can say that Alexander Midas and Creator beg to differ. :3

**Author's Note:**

>  **Author's Note:** Thanks for reading! I apologize for the weird format.


End file.
